Tag: Japanese Beauty

It’s practically no secret that Japanese women have incredibly smooth and clear skin. Ever wonder why Japanese people have super-clear skin? Do you wonder what it is they do to keep their skin so healthy and clear?

In the imagination of the American beauty hound, France has its effortless, tousled-hair It girls and Korea has its effortful, snail-powered, bazillion-step skincare routine. But Japan, for the most part, has been less of a cultural beauty brand. (Well, at least outside of the archaic and bizarro preoccupation with geishas, which makes about as much sense as taking beauty cues from Marie Antoinette.) It’s time to reassess the landscape, especially keeping in mind that Japan has the highest per capita spending on skincare and cosmetics.

(C) Byrdie

Walk down the street of Tokyo or Kyoto, Osaka or Kumamoto, and the national obsession with beauty is nakedly apparent. Within two blocks there might be three drugstores, a claustrophobe’s nightmare with a dizzying number of beauty bottles, tubs, tonics, and packs, and just around the corner, a couple of department stores with entire floors of even more brands.

Start taking stock of all the products with cult status among beauty insiders — SK-II masks, Clé de Peau concealers, Shu Uemura eyelash curlers — and you might start to wonder if Japan is low-key the best beauty country in the world. This aesthetic dedication extends into other parts of life. Onsen, the hot spring bath, is still a common practice, and the Japanese diet is full of skin-supporting foods like oily fish, seaweed, green tea, and the newly trendy fermented rice beverage amazake. Wellness is practically the national religion.

Ever wondered how the Japanese manage to look so young? Women from Japan just don’t age at the same rate as most women. And it’s all due to Japanese skincare secrets.

Japanese women are famed for their clear, flawless faces and their ability to look 30 even past their 60th birthday. Then, of course, there are the geisha, these mysterious women, whose whole lives are dedicated to beauty in all forms. By the way, the geisha were not courtesans, regardless of how the word’s definition has got mixed up after World War II. Perhaps Japanese women’s beauty has to do with genes or they have some dark secret, such as subjecting themselves to rigorous, cruel beauty routines that we wouldn’t be able to endure for even a week? No, the truth is much simpler and nicer: natural ingredients and constant care. Here are some traditional Japanese beauty tips:

1. Food

Think for a second what are the foods we associate with Japan – fish, rice and seaweed. These, together with cabbage-family vegetables, make up the bulk of the traditional Japanese diet. No fatty meat, no sugar and no tons of bread. What distinguishes these foods is their abundance of omega-3 fatty acids, health-promoting, anti-aging molecules, fibres, vitamins and minerals in high quantities. Basically, everything that’s essential for your health and good looks.

2. Rice

Rice is one of the most popular Japanese beauty secrets and it needs a special mention, while we’re on the subject of food as an element in the beauty routine of Japanese women. It’s not just a superhealthy food, packed with vitamins and minerals, that helps the skin glow from within. It, or rather the water you’ve boiled it in, or simply rinsed it in, can be used as a facial wash. You can also add it to your bath water. Why? Because it contains the minerals that have left the grains during cooking and it also contains starch, a soothing substance for the skin.

3. Nightingale droppings

Nightingale droppings is another one of unusual Japanese beauty secrets. Yes, you read that right. Bird droppings have been used as facial treatments in Japan since the 17th century, mostly by geishas and kabuki actors at the time but they are now slowly getting international recognition. The secret is a compound called guanine, which has the wonderful properties of brightening the …